Posted: February 21st, 2023

Week 4 Assignment

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Design

Setting

Part IV of this book explores all aspects of the development phase, which includes product design, product architecture and prototype development, and product use testing, as well as organizational and team management issues. Here in Chapter 13, we examine just what this development phase means to different companies, and we introduce design and its use as a strategic resource. We also examine the role of the product designer and the interface between design and other functions involved in the new products process.

As consumers, we have all been frustrated by poorly designed products and wonder how they ever got to market:

Too-bulky or underpowered vacuum cleaners. Cereal boxes with protective packaging that rips when first opened and thus no longer protects. Oddly shaped spatulas that are useless for flipping pancakes. A coffee vending machine that does not indicate that you have to provide the cup: you learn this the first time you get hot coffee spilled on your pants. A combination CD-tape player, with the tape controls located near the CD drive and the CD controls near the tape drive.

Yet we recognize and appreciate outstanding designs—a new car, revolutionary office furniture, or even a universal screwdriver that really works—and reward the product manufacturers. The design and appearance of the Apple iPod certainly adds to its appeal; likewise James Dyson’s vacuum cleaner. In a day and age of “don’t sweat the small things,” it may be those very small things that determine brand preferences and that the manufacturers should focus on!1

What Is Design?

One writer defines design as “the synthesis of technology and human needs into manufacturable products.”2 In practice, however, design as a term has many uses. To the car companies, it can mean the styling department. To a container company it means their customer’s packaging people. To a manufacturing department it most likely means the engineers who set final product specifications. Excellence in design also benefits the bottom line. Firms that are judged to be higher in design effectiveness outperform other firms in return on sales and assets, net incomes, and cash flow, as well as higher stock market returns.3 Consider, for example, the role of design at Apple. Over the years, Apple has received much praise for the sleek, modernistic designs of its iPads, iPhones, and other devices. The clean, simple lines of these products can be directly traced to the 1960s-era record players and radios designed by famed German designer Dieter Rams. In any case, design should not be

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considered an afterthought where industrial designers are asked to pretty up a product that is about ready to be manufactured. This narrow view of design causes managers to miss the potential that design has to occasionally innovate within the organization.

Design-Driven Innovation4

Some writers have suggested that the traditional, dual-drive product innovation strategy (technology-driven or market-driven) neglects the potentially powerful role of design. In both technology-driven and market-driven innovation, design plays a secondary role. Technology-driven innovation starts with the technology; the role of design is to modify the product so that it can accommodate the performance characteristics. Market-driven innovation starts with the customer; here, design modifies the product so that it meets customer expectations. Design academic Roberto Verganti suggests considering a third way: design-driven innovation, in which it is design itself that takes on the leadership role. In his words,

Design introduces a bold new way of com peting. Design-driven innovations do not com e from the m arket; they create new m arkets. They don’t push new technologies; they push new m eanings. Custom ers had not asked for these new m eanings, but once they had experienced them , it was love at first sight.5

Verganti offers a designer teapot, designed by architect Michael Graves and sold by Italian manufacturer Alessi, as an example of design-driven innovation. Most teapots are utilitarian: they boil water, quite effectively, for maybe five minutes a day, and take up space in the kitchen for the rest of the time. The Graves design was felt to be “delightful,” to the extent that it actually made the breakfast experience more pleasurable. It was attractive, its cone-shaped design with the wide bottom does not rock unsteadily on the stovetop, the handle with the grip set far back eliminates burning one’s hands when pouring hot water, and a little bird on the spout whistles when the water is ready. Rather than taking up space, the teapot becomes part of the décor and is something most people would be proud to own and show off. The fact that virtually the same product was mass-produced and sold at a much lower price point through Target stores suggests the universal appeal of this high-design product. In fact, this example clearly shows that product functionality is just as important to excellent design as product appearance or aesthetics. As noted by Ken Munsch, New Product Business Development director at Herman Miller, “Sharper Image specialized in sleek, modern style and filed for bankruptcy. Beautiful is not enough. The product must be useful. Design includes the whole human interface.”6

The Role of Design in the New Products Process7

Design’s potential role in the new products process is sometimes underestimated. This may be because of a lack of understanding or appreciation of designers, design management, and the design function on the part of managers from other functional areas. Designers undergo rigorous training to learn how to design products that function well mechanically, that are durable, that are easy and safe to use, that can be made from easily available materials, and that look appealing. Clearly, many of these requirements will be in conflict, and it is up to the skillful designer to achieve all of them simultaneously.

Contributions of Design to New Product Goals As proof of the importance of design, consider several ways in which design excellence can help firms achieve a broad spectrum of new product goals, as shown in Figure 13.1.

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FIGURE 13.1 Contributions of Design to the New Products Process

Design for Speed to Market Ingersoll-Rand developed its Cyclone Grinder (an air-grinder power tool) in record time, thanks to an efficient cross-functional team and excellence in design. The team (composed of marketing, manufacturing, and engineering personnel) worked closely with Group Four Design to identify customer needs. Users of traditional grinders often complained that they were difficult to hold, and that their hands would freeze (the unit became cold during use). The new grinder was ergonomically shaped (better shaped for the human body meaning, in this case, easier to hold), lighter, and made of a new composite material that was both more durable and more comfortable to hold (since it conducted less thermal energy and thus did not get cold). Furthermore, the one- piece housing design was a cost improvement over the previous version, which required assembly of seven different components.

Design for Ease of Manufacture A classic example here concerns IBM’s development of its Proprinter dot-matrix printer in the mid-1980s. At the time, the Japanese owned the worldwide market for low-end printers. It was felt, however, that the competition was vulnerable: Their printers were not well designed, and in particular had hundreds of parts including dozens of rivets and fasteners. IBM set a performance target of 200 near-letter-quality characters per second (not the current standard, but the expected standard four years into the future) and had a motto of “no fasteners”: Everything had to snap together easily. Furthermore, the development time had to be compressed from the standard four years to two-and-a-half years. All of the above was achieved: The original Proprinter had only 61 parts and could be assembled in three minutes. Similarly, Swatch watches are designed for ease of manufacture, having about a third of the moving parts of a traditional Swiss watch, a plastic casing without a removable back, a plastic strap incorporated into the casing, and many other design features. Swatch watches retail at a small fraction of the price of traditional Swiss watches.

Design for Differentiation Haworth Inc., the office furniture designer, employs an Ideation Group, responsible for exploring and assessing customer acceptance of speculative products (high-risk products without a clear-cut market). Haworth believes that “nonstandard” product development is needed for speculative products. Few of the prototypes developed by Ideation may make it to the marketplace, and those that do (like the Crossings furniture line) may end up looking quite different. Good ideas from the Ideation Group can make their way into existing lines or other future products, and more importantly, Haworth has successfully differentiated its product offerings as being more

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original in design. Incidentally, excellence in design seems to be important in the office furniture industry: Steelcase Inc. is a majority owner of IDEO, the design firm we have met more than once in earlier chapters.8

Design to Meet Customer Needs Deep understanding of customer needs is required in order for the firm to translate a high-potential technology into a product that provides meaningful benefits to the customer. Collaboration with end users (seen in Chapter 4) and capturing the voice of the customer (Chapter 12) are important ways to get this depth of understanding, now sometimes referred to as user-oriented design.9

The voice of the customer was extensively used in the design of the Infiniti QX4 sport utility vehicle. In fact, marketing director Steve Kight said at the time that “the QX4 was designed expressly for [our customers].” Interviews and surveys of Infiniti drivers in Westchester County, New York, revealed their preferences in an SUV: handles like a car, easy to get into, priced below $40,000. Infiniti drivers and nondrivers within the target market (35–64 years old, over $125,000 household income, willing to purchase a luxury car) were presented with five different designs. The best of these was molded into clay and fiberglass models with the additional input of dealers. Finally, the SUV was supported with a strong promotional campaign, advertising heavily in magazines such as Smart Money. As a result, sales far exceeded expectations.10

Crown Equipment Corporation, a manufacturer of forklift trucks, developed its RC (Rider Counterbalance) lift truck and launched it in 2008. An age-old problem expressed by forklift truck drivers is their inability to see clearly in front, especially if they have pallets raised on the forks. In some cases, a second person would be required to guide the driver, whose sight line was obstructed by the load carried at the front of the truck. Using an ingenious counterbalance system, the RC’s forks are located to the side so as to remove the driver’s obstruction. Additionally, the RC had extra design elements that addressed other common user complaints and appealed to the driver: a much larger than average operator compartment, a desktop area allowing the driver to keep papers and tools nearby, a newly designed shock absorption system that smoothed the ride, and a stylish and ergonomic appearance. The RC significantly grew Crown Equipment’s market share and also won several design awards.11

Universal design is the term sometimes used to mean the design of products to be usable by anyone regardless of age or ability. Principles of universal design can be used to develop products for new markets based on unmet customer needs. The designer considers the abilities of real people in real-world settings when applying universal design principles. For example, some people are visually impaired, while others have temporary vision problems due to eye fatigue, recovery from surgery, or even poor lighting. Phones with extra- large buttons address permanent or temporary vision problems and can be used by anyone. Closed-captioned television, automatic garage-door openers, and automatically opening doors to grocery stores also exemplify universal design. Figure 13.2 illustrates the principles of universal design.

Design to Build or Support Corporate Identity Many firms have established visual equity across the products they sell: a recognizable look or feel that they use consistently. Product design can thus help build or support public perception of the firm and, ultimately, its corporate identity. Apple computers and other devices have always been designed to look user-friendly. Rolex watches all have a classic, high-prestige appearance, and Braun appliances have lines and colors that convey simplicity and quality.12 Nokia phones share common design elements that make them unique, yet at the same time familiar. The company calls these commonalities “Nokia DNA.” Radically designed new BMW models, such as the Z4, still share familiar design attributes with classic BMWs of years ago, such as the distinctive grille.13

Design for the Environment Design for disassembly is the technique by which products can be taken apart after use for separate recycling of metal, glass, and plastic parts. Among other carmakers, BMW has designed disassembly and recycling into its cars. Used plastic

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FIGURE 13.2 Principles of Universal Design

parts are sorted, recycled, and made into new parts. Other components are either recycled or rebuilt, while unusable parts are incinerated to create energy.14

In fact, green design is now a driving force within many firms. The carmaker Subaru provides an example. Thomas Easterday, senior vice president, Subaru of Indiana, says that Subaru has “embraced the concepts of reduce, reuse, and recycle.” He claims that Subaru has achieved zero landfill status and has attained a recycling rate of 99.8 percent (the remainder is hazardous waste that must be incinerated due to EPA regulations). Subaru works with suppliers so that they use recyclable packaging and with local companies responsible for collecting and recycling materials; the carmaker also finds markets for recycled materials. More recycling

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FIGURE 13.3 Range of Leading Design Applications

leads to less waste, and cost savings, at Subaru.15 Apple also makes several green claims for the iPad on its Web site, noting that the display is mercury-free, there is no PVC plastic used, and the aluminum-and-glass enclosure is recyclable.16

Figure 13.3 shows a variety of design dimensions, using only the two criteria of Purpose of Design and Item Being Designed. Design is not just a field in which artists draw pictures of new microwaves. It blends form and function, quality and style, art and engineering. In short, a good design is aesthetically pleasing, easy to make correctly, reliable, easy to use, economical to operate and service, and in line with recycling standards. Ergonomics are also an important consideration; this can be defined as studying human characteristics in order to develop appropriate designs.17 Many of the poorly designed products mentioned at the start of this chapter might have been improved with better attention to ergonomics. An excellent design can play a big role in determining how well a new product will meet the needs of customers, as well as retailers and other stakeholders, and therefore is an important determinant of success.

Consider one innovatively designed product: the Cross Action toothbrush by Gillette’s Oral-B division. Researchers videotaped people using toothbrushes to determine actual brushing patterns, then built a robot arm to simulate brushing action. High-speed video cameras and computer imaging were used to test several different prototypes and to arrive at the bristle configuration that was most effective in cleaning teeth.18

The role of the design in a product’s ultimate acceptance by customers is easily understood. Consider a new car design. If the new style is not that different from existing cars, customers might find it uninteresting or overly conservative. On the other hand, if the new design looks as if it came from Mars, most customers are likely to find it too revolutionary or even ugly. Given that as much as $2 billion may be invested in a new car design, it seems reasonable for the car companies to spend as much as $1 million on getting just the right balance of style and shape. Focus groups may be used to get initial reactions, then full- size models (or car shapes on a computer screen) may be shown to hundreds of potential buyers. Despite careful research, however, misleading results may be obtained: Customers often don’t really know what they want as far as style is concerned.19

Product Architecture20

Product architecture has been described as the process by which a customer need is developed into a product design. This is a critical step in moving toward a product design, as solid architecture improves ultimate product performance, reduces the cost of changing the product once it is in production, and can speed the product to market.

To understand architecture development, consider that a product contains components (a portable CD player- recorder has a chassis, motors, disk drive, speakers, and so on) that can be combined into chunks (the base, the disk handling system, the recording system, and the sound production system). A product is also composed of functional elements (for a CD player, these might include reading disks, recording sound, producing sound, and adjusting sound quality). The product’s architecture is how the functional elements are assigned to the chunks and how the chunks are interrelated.

A Process for Product Architecture

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4.

3.

2.

1.

A stepwise process for product architecture development can be applied to make sure the product’s design will be in keeping with customer needs and, ultimately, the product innovation charter.21 The process is illustrated in simplified form in Figure 13.4. Careless product architecture results in products such as the CD-tape player with the mismatched controls, mentioned earlier in this chapter. Although each component works perfectly well, the way the pieces are put together makes little sense from the user’s perspective, and minor rearrangement would have resulted in an intuitive, easier-to-use product.

Create the Product Schematic. The schematic shows the components and functional elements of the product and how they are interconnected. Several alternative schematics may be developed and explored at this point. For the CD player-recorder, one might develop a version designed to plug into a

FIGURE 13.4 Product Architecture Illustration

standard stereo system, a stand-alone version with miniature speakers, or another to be used only with headphones. It would contain components connected with the disk drive itself, input (recording) functions, output (playback or speaker) functions, and power supply, among other things. Cluster the Schematic Elements. Here, the chunks (or modules) are defined. In the figure, input, disk, output, and power chunks are identified. Interaction among the chunks should be simple so changes can be easily effected, and one should take advantage of manufacturing capabilities wherever possible. If rapid changes are expected in some part of the product, that part should most certainly be made into a chunk. For example, if new disk drive technology is expected to permit 10 times as much content to be recorded and stored on a quarter-sized disk, one should be able to replace the current drive with this new one if desired. Create Geometric Layout. Here, using simulations, computer-aided design, or other techniques, the product is arranged in several configurations to determine the “best” solutions. For example, should the disk load in the front or the side of the CD player? Where should the speakers (if there are any) be located? One possible geometric layout is shown in Figure 13.4. Check Interactions between Chunks. Understand what happens at the interfaces between chunks. In the CD player, sound flows as a digital signal to the disk during recording, and also as a digital signal from the

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disk during playback.

Product Architecture and Product Platforms Clearly, careful product architecture development is critical to a firm seeking to establish a product platform. As noted in Chapter 3, car manufacturers (with few exceptions) think in terms of designing platforms, not individual products. A successful platform can result in an initially successful car, and also lead to several other models in the future (for example, the New Beetle is built on an existing Volkswagen Golf platform).

If the architecture permits the designers to replace chunks or modules easily, several new products can be designed as technology improves, market tastes change, and manufacturing skill increases. This is how Black and Decker was able to develop those dozens of different hand-held tools on just a couple of basic motor platforms!

In the Volkswagen example, the New Beetle is referred to as a derivative product. This term refers to products based on the same platform as an existing product, but modified incrementally in terms of technology or customer need fulfillment (in this case, a classic Beetle-like appearance). Depending on how many features are added, the derivative product may cost about the same to manufacture (such as new designs of Swatch watches), or may cost more but offer greater value to the user. Features may also be stripped out to achieve a lower-cost derivative product. Additional cost savings can be incurred by using standardized components across many products. Whatever the case, the key is to be able to make changes to the modules while still operating on the same platform.

Industrial Design and the Industrial Designer22

Industrial designers are, above all, creative types: Their job is to take a problem and somehow visualize a solution to it. They are concerned about how things work as well as how things look. Their university training will have included work in aesthetic design, mechanical engineering, materials and processes, and art or drawing. It is this unique set of skills and abilities that determines the special role the product designer plays in the new products process.

Consider this real-life example. An industrial designer was brought in by a leading manufacturer of liquid correction fluid (white fluid brushed over mistakes made when using a typewriter). A user problem was identified: The brushes got dried-out or misshapen, and thus became difficult to use. Some obvious solutions might be: Make the bottleneck bigger, or improve the brush applicator. But better product design work results in more creative solutions. To accomplish this, designers can use techniques similar to the general creativity techniques seen in Chapter 5, such as brainstorming. Working together with the marketing and engineering personnel from the product team, the designer can sketch hundreds of thumbnail ideations for review. For the correction fluid, these ideations included sketches of pens holding the white fluid, variations of the pen’s tip (including different angles, a spring-loaded version, and so on), different kinds of caps for the pen’s tip—even several versions of a dispenser much like a tape dispenser. Instead of using sketches, the ideations can also be computer-generated using Photoshop or similar software. The product team assesses each ideation based on appearance and manufacturability and chooses the best ones that are then more fully rendered by the designer.

No one ideation is likely to be the final design concept to be brought to prototype development. The best parts of each ideation are combined into a single design in a step called design consolidation. As much detail as possible is fleshed out at this time—including decorative graphics and brand name and logo (if known), since this is typically one of the last evaluation points before a huge amount of financial and human resources are dedicated to the product. Generally, computer-generated renderings are preferred at this point. Other members of the new product team will provide information to determine if the product is manufacturable and marketable.

Using these procedures, two new correction fluid products were designed and launched. The first put the liquid into a ballpoint-pen-type dispenser which, when squeezed, emitted a smooth flow of correction fluid right on the mistake. The second, which required two years of additional development, was a tape-dispenser that put a strip of dry white tape over the mistake (thus allowing the user to make the correction right away without waiting for liquid to dry).

There are several factors that can be considered by industrial designers when deciding on the appropriateness of a design. These may include quality of user interface, emotional appeal, maintenance and repair, appropriate use of resources, and product differentiation (see Figure 13.5).23 Emotional appeal could include, for example, the sound made by a cell phone when the lid is closed. A solid “thud” is more appealing than a cheap “click.” Nokia knows this and Nokia engineers worked hard on the springs and ball bearings just to get the sound right.24

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Industrial designers must also consider trade-offs among these factors. Bright colors on a phone answering machine may add to its emotional appeal but diminish perceived quality. Furthermore, many of these more aesthetic factors differ among individuals, making the designer’s job more difficult.25

Prototype Development26

For most people, the word prototype conjures up the image of a fully functioning, full-size product essentially ready to be examined by potential customers. Industrial designers define the term more broadly. A comprehensive prototype would

FIGURE 13.5 Assessment Factors for an Industrial Design: A Car Example

be one of these essentially complete prototypes. They also make use of what are called focused prototypes, which examine a limited number of performance attributes or features. A bicycle or car manufacturer may build focused prototypes (a nonfunctioning bicycle out of foam or wood, or a wooden “frame” that very roughly simulates the layout of the seat, steering wheel, and dashboard of a new car interior) to determine customers’ reactions to the product’s form. The bike manufacturer may go on and develop a crude working prototype to experiment with and determine how the product might work. Recall the development of the Iomega Zip Drive

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from Chapter 2. In that case, dozens of nonworking prototypes of the Zip Drive, including some with a flip-up top, were built before arriving at a prototype that customers liked.27

Which type, or types, of prototypes should be built? The answer is, of course, it depends: Primarily, it depends on the intended use of the prototype. Focused prototypes are used in probe-and-learn (“lickety-stick”) product development in the development of new-to-the-world products, such as the Zip Drive. Focused prototypes are also used in cases where the product is not so new to the world to learn about how the product works and how well it will satisfy customer needs. BMW designers, for example, built clay models of new car designs for the 3 Series and sent them to southern France to see what they would look like in the sunlight at a distance, and to determine if there were line or form defects. It is much cheaper to make required changes now, rather than later in the development process.28

A more comprehensive physical prototype is necessary to determine how well all the components fit together —as an additional benefit, the various members of the new product team are essentially required to cooperate to build the comprehensive prototype. Finally, more advanced prototypes can be used as milestones—the performance of the prototype can be tracked periodically to see if it has advanced to desired levels.

Once a comprehensive prototype exists, of course, it can be taken to potential users to be tested in a real usage situation, and improved and refined. This is known as product-use testing and will be taken up in Chapter 15.

Managing the Interfaces in the Design Process

New product managers have to keep in mind that product design should not be just the responsibility of the designers! Historically, in the era of powerful functional chimneys and slow, linear, stage-based development, industrial designers dominated the action in most firms making tangible products. Today, they have to share this traditional role with several other functions. Ironically, by joining the team and seeming to lose power, design stands on the verge of winning its ultimate position of influence. But it is the new product manager’s task to bring this about.

There are several participants in the product design task, some in a more direct role than others, as shown in Figure 13.6. One model of how these people participate is shown in this figure. The representation there is somewhat linear, but with substantial overlapping or parallel effort.

It is easy to see how this model of operations gives people problems, particularly the designers. Industrial designers, trained to develop aesthetics (styling), structural integrity, and function (how the product works), directly overlap with the design engineers, who are technical people who convert styling into product dimensions or specifications. Technical people are not devoid of ideas on styling, and stylists are not devoid of thoughts on how the mechanics can work. This is especially true on common products (like shoes or dinnerware) where all parties have experience.

The other dimension of complexity is added by some of the supportive participants in the preceding list. Suppliers usually know their materials better than their customers do. That’s why Black & Decker picked its supplier for the Snake Lite before its design was finished. Large firms like Philips have the funds to establish large central styling centers where styling skills exceed those of the typical plant stylist.

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FIGURE 13.6 Model of the Product Design Process

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Customers almost always have overriding ideas to contribute. Consequently, the styling function is a synthesis of many views beyond those of the direct participants. If we add all of the other company people listed as supportive, we get back to the list of functions usually represented on the teams discussed in Chapter 14.

The result of all this can be chaos, and in general the problems are thought to be at the heart of why some countries’ producers are so often beaten by new products from Japan and Germany. In Japan, for example, product design means more than how a product looks and feels to the user; it often means engineering applications. To one observer, design in Japan “means the total-enterprise process of determining customer needs and converting them to concepts, detailed designs, process plans, factory design, and delivered products, together with their supporting services.”29 This merges a holistic view of end-user needs and a holistic structure to meet those needs. Design is seen as a vertical means of fulfillment, and individual skills are not central.

In the United States and Europe, participants end up playing musical chairs from one project to the next as roles change. Though the industrial designer is increasingly viewed as a full-fledged member of the new product team from the earliest phases, some design purists and traditionalists resist this movement. Design and marketing operate in drastically different cultures, and cultural gaps are hard to erase.30

In some cases, designers are taking on an expanded role as a liaison from end user to top management. Greater integration with end users can lead to better information about what design changes are desired. Designers can also serve as a conduit of information from industry, for example, making recommendations to the product development team on new materials to use.31

Both the design engineer and the stylist have been accused of continually trying to make a product just a little better and refusing to release it for production. There used to be a statement around the auto industry that engineering never released anything; the new car managers had to go in and take it away. Too much design retooling can result in products that have too many engineering characteristics or gimmicks and are late onto the market. The Apple Newton (an early personal digital assistant) and the Xerox 8200 copier are products that failed to live up to expectations, partly because of their complexity; 1980s-era PCs could also fit in this category— Apple’s initial success was based on its ease of use.32

The hard feelings sometimes run deep and lead to cross-functional animosity. The Japanese showed the world how to handle this when they began freezing the specifications at an early date in the technical cycle, forcing later ideas to be put into the schedule for the next model.

Improving the Interfaces in the Design Process

Most of the problems surrounding design have to do with concurrency, or overlapping the steps in development. It is clear from the discussion of Chapter 12 that up-front product definition (product protocol and firm prototype) is important. Several techniques are currently being used to make sure that design is integrated correctly with other functions during the development phase and that the products being designed can be manufactured in a cost- efficient way.

Important among these is colocation (putting the various individuals or functional areas in close proximity). The development phase can be a communications snake pit. When the different groups are not in regular contact and cooperating, there is a tendency for information to be lost (or hidden). This causes wasted work and slows the whole operation down. Further, the problems intensify in large firms with their research centers hundreds of miles from the offices of marketers and the production lines of manufacturing people. Many firms have tried colocation to shorten communication lines and increase team cohesion. Motorola, for example, colocated its development team when developing the Bandit pager, completing the project in 18 months (less than half the normal development time). Many other firms such as Ford, Honda, AT&T, and John Deere have used colocation successfully.33

Colocation helps integrate departments and improve information flow, and also allows the team members to identify and resolve product development problems quicker. It must, however, be carefully planned and handled. It is probably not a good idea to break up a center of technological excellence in order to colocate its members. Too-distant colocation (i.e., employees have to get in their cars and drive to another building rather than walk down the hall) might lead to team members letting their problems pile up rather than resolving them immediately. There may be an unintentional home court advantage (if the meetings are at the marketing facility, marketing team members may be perceived to be more powerful). And team members must be willing to tear down the functional walls and change their attitudes about working with individuals from other functions—otherwise, colocation facilitates social exchange, but doesn’t really achieve cross-functional integration.34

In many firms, the effects of colocation are achieved without actual physical proximity of team members, using communications technology such as Lotus Notes or WebEx videoconferencing. This is sometimes known

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as digital colocation. Interestingly, research suggests that digital colocation and face-to-face colocation complement each other in terms of facilitating knowledge dissemination.35

As a final note, there is a recent increase in the use of global teams (that is, teams comprising individuals from at least two different countries). Improved information technologies such as videoconferencing, teleconferencing, e-mail, and company databases combine with phone calls and regular mail to make global teams an increasingly feasible option. Global teams are increasingly popular in new product development, and we will take up their management in the next chapter.36

Other techniques are sometimes used. Some firms have sought a solution by bringing in a produceability engineer: an independent third party who understands both design and production and who can work in the design studios to see that production requirements are met by design decisions. Being third-party, turf battles are partially avoided. But it is not a satisfactory solution—adding another person rarely is.37 As seen in Chapter 12, quality function deployment has also helped in getting cooperation across new product team members and in maintaining focus on customer needs and benefits. The customer’s needs (counterpart of protocol) comprise an inherent part of the system and cannot be overlooked.

In addition, partnering upstream with vendors is a possibility. Of course, there are security risks, patent uncertainties, cooperation that cannot be mandated in an emergency, and the like. But most companies tell us they are doing it by using technology searches, demands that suppliers value engineer their product, and inclusion of supplier people on the new product teams. Chrysler, as an example, has cut its supplier base, establishing longer-term relationships with its suppliers, and insisted on high supplier quality in order to increase global competitiveness.38

It is in any vendor’s best interest to be offering something an end user genuinely needs, so both parties gain from integrated activities.39

Computer-Aided Design and Design for Manufacturability

Another development is helping to bring people together and at the same time show the importance of all players. CAD (computer-aided design), CAM (computer-aided manufacturing), CAE (computer-aided engineering), DFM (design for manufacturability), and other variations refer to computer-based technologies that allow for very efficient product design and development.

These technologies offer lots of advantages—people have to work together to understand and use them, they force the integration of all needs into one analytical set, they are fast, and they do more than the human can do alone even if there were ample time. They also help improve the images of team players who may lack status. For example, manufacturing used to have to take a back seat to design and marketing. It was uncommon in many firms for the factory people even to be invited to meetings; they were expected to take what came from design and make it, somehow. In most firms that time is gone, and should be in all firms.

Product designers often use design for manufacturability (DFM) techniques to find ways to minimize manufacturing costs. On average, up to 80 percent of a product’s cost is determined by the time it is designed. The idea behind DFM techniques is that an apparently trivial detail in the design phase might have huge manufacturing cost consequences later on, so manufacturing implications need to be considered early in product design. Another term sometimes heard is front-loading: identifying and solving design problems in earlier phases of the new products process.

Probably the most important DFM process is design for assembly (DFA), which is concerned with checking ease of assembly and manufacture and encouraging product simplification.40 As was the case with the Proprinter example given above, DFA leads to fewer components, resulting in lower materials costs as well as savings in assembly time. There are several DFA programs, but the first one came from Boothroyd & Dewhurst, a Rhode Island software firm. By programming in the manufacturing conditions and information about the particular assembly operation (for example, cars on an assembly line), the DFA program can react to any design proposal with information about its time and cost result. It also points out the major design elements contributing to slow time or high cost, so the designer can work directly on them. Unfortunately, the designer does not have comparable software that would be called DFM (design for marketing). Unless the protocol is very clear and accepted, or unless marketing or customer people are present during the design process, developers may be acting favorably to factory time/cost but unfavorably to customer value and usefulness.

Three-dimensional CAD mock-ups have been successfully used to front-load design problem identification. Designers of aircraft or automobiles, for example, are working within space limitations. A traditional two- dimensional engineer’s drawing might not be able to identify that the designed air conditioning duct would not fit well in a new aircraft’s structure. The car dashboard designers might not realize that their desired position for the

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audio system would protrude too far into the engine area. This sort of ill-fit can be identified and fixed readily using CAD. Iomega used CAM in designing the Zip Drive: Prototypes were built right from the three-dimensional computer-generated images.41 Similarly, Boeing used CAM in its design of the 777. They simulated climbing into the newly designed aircraft for maintenance using a computer-generated virtual human—and found that one of the navigation lights would have been hard for a real serviceperson to reach. There was no need to build an expensive prototype to find this flaw, and the fixup was easily made.42

Car manufacturers also use CAD techniques to improve the decking process. This refers to assembling the car’s powertrain into the upper body (think of making a sandwich where all the parts have to fit together perfectly). Using CAD mockups, car companies such as Chrysler identify (and solve) fit problems digitally before any physical decking actually takes place. Rather than being an arduous, trial-and-error process, decking now can be completed in 15 minutes as the carmaker can usually get it right on the first or second try.43

Another application of CAD concerns car crashworthiness. BMW virtually “crashed” dozens of car designs using a crash simulator and was able to improve crashworthiness by about 30 percent as a result. Only two physical prototypes were actually built, crashed, and analyzed. The cost of building and physically crashing dozens of design iterations would have been prohibitive, not to mention time consuming.44 In sum, digital preassembly and simulation analyses are among the biggest benefits of 3-D CAD to product development since they help to overcome costly and time-consuming stumbling blocks in the new products process.45

Other examples of current progress are (1) stereolithography and (2) mechanical computer-aided engineering (MCAE). Stereolithography is a technology that permits free-form fabrication, that is, the creation of a solid object directly from a three-dimensional computer model. This process is sometimes called rapid prototyping. In just one to three days, a container of liquid can be converted into a hard plastic prototype based on the 3D computer- designed model. The process sends hardening beams of electrons into the container causing the liquid to solidify in tiny bits at a time, yielding very precise models. At one time, a single model of this precise detail would have taken a modeler weeks to construct. MCAE permits engineers to test before they build, with all criteria being considered. It’s a type of simulation that plays what-if games with a design.46

Continuous Improvement in Design

How can one go about improving product design even further? A familiar concept in new product development— the voice of the customer—might be revisited. Too often, the basic product is designed, then a product-user interface is slapped on without much thought to what the customer wants. Worse yet, it may be difficult to give the customer what he or she really wants without making major changes to the basic product. By starting with the customer’s needs, a better basic product would be designed in the first place. This process is sometimes called interaction design. For example, if a given ATM user always requests service in English and always asks for a receipt, couldn’t that behavior be tracked so that after a while the machine no longer asks him? Simple enough concept, but one that would require a substantial change to the basic product in order to give the customer what he or she wants.47

Summary

This chapter has dealt with the design process, the people and the activities. We have looked specifically at design process elements such as design architecture and prototype development, and explored some of the computer-aided techniques so important to design in so many firms. Design is many-faceted, however, so it will differ greatly from one industry to another. Marketing people have found it important to be flexible here, helping to shape a role for design that fits each situation and corporate policy. But in most firms, design joins manufacturing and other functions to form a working, multifunctional group (usually a team), and in Chapter 14 we will look at its structure and management.

Applications

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“One of our divisions makes an electric scooter. Classic case of where a designer, looking for new modes of ultralight transportation, came across the scooter and electrified it. People said he was crazy. Kids begged their parents not to ride one (shame), and a cop said, ‘It’s not a moped. It’s not a motorcycle. It’s not anything, and I don’t ride anything when I’m not sure what it is.’48 Best example I know of why designers have to be free to do their thing, without having market researchers be responsible for picking up on market trends.” “Most of our divisions believe in customer integration—involving the user in the new product process. I am a fanatic on it. But some people want us to carry this right into the technical design phase. This would be dangerous. A lot of what we do must be secret—we can’t patent most of our ideas, and timing is everything. That’s why we put so much emphasis on speed of development. But I still get pushed to do more. Help me. Tell me all the things we might do to get integrated customers but at the same time minimize the risks of losing our secrets.” “About this matter of design, I am stumped. I agree design is critical today, and I always support it. But you’ve got to admit that industrial designers sometimes get into arguments with the engineers who are trying to make products

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